a mermaid's secret
by cheergrl27
Summary: Talia wants to forget about her past, but after she undergoes a fishy transformation, she needs to remember in order to keep herself alive.
1. Prologue

_"I'll be back later, Talia," my Mother sung. "Just try and stay out of trouble for your babysitter, okay? Please?"_

 _"Don't worry, I'll probably be up here the whole time," I said. "I really want to finish this book."_

 _I pointed to the open book sitting on my lap. She smiled. "Great," she said. She kissed me on the cheek and left the room, closing the door really quietly. I wanted to wait for my Mom to get home before I went to sleep, like I usually did, but she wasn't home by midnight so I decided to go to sleep anyways. The next morning, my babysitter was still at my house. She woke me up and told me that my Mom hadn't returned home last night. I didn't want to worry about it; I told myself that maybe she slept over at a friend's house or just lost track of time._

 _A few days later, someone had called the police, telling them that they found a dead body at the beach. That body had turned out to be my Mother's. I didn't want to believe that she was dead; I couldn't believe that she was dead. Only a few days before, she was... alive? Now she's gone. I'd never get to see her again. It was a really weird feeling, to know that you'd never see someone again. I didn't want to have to deal with it, so I avoided thinking about it at all costs._

 _About a week later, there was a funeral held for my Mom. As soon as I knew about it, I didn't want to go. I knew it would have made me feel even worse about my Mom, and I didn't want to have to deal with that. A lot of people were confused as to why I didn't attend, and whenever they asked, I would tell them that I was sick. Really sick._

 _My grandmother gained custody of me shortly after. Her house was very close to the beach where my Mom was found dead, so I tried to stay at my friends' houses so I wouldn't have to be reminded of it. My grandmother knew what I was doing, and told me that I was running away from my problems, but I didn't care. Avoiding my Mom like this made me a happier person._

 _I was only twelve years old at the time. Around the time I turned fifteen, my doctor diagnosed me with minor depression. I couldn't understand how I could be depressed. My grandmother figured that it had to do with my Mother's death, but I convinced myself that it wasn't the case. My grandmother forced me to go to therapy twice a week, every Tuesday and Thursday. I hated the therapy though, and every time I went, I would always refuse to talk about my Mom._

 _Eventually, after a couple months, I just stopped going. I couldn't take it anymore, I hated it. I'm not the sort of person to talk about my "feelings," and then everything will suddenly get better. My grandmother was mad when she found out, but she decided to just stop paying for it because she knew I wouldn't go anyways. My grandmother still punishes me for not going though; she never lets me go out on Tuesday and Thursday nights._

 _I'm 16 now. I still live with my grandmother near that beach, and I'm now in the eleventh grade. I don't have as many friends as I did when my Mom died, probably because they were sick of me being so clingy. Oh well, I sort of turned into a loner over the years anyways. I don't need anyone to be in my life anymore. I'm not the same girl as I was as a 12 year old._

 _And now my next story begins as I walk into school, unaware of the big things that are about to happen next._


	2. Chapter 1

I looked around at all the fuss around me as I walked through the doors of my school. Everyone was greeting each other happily after a long summer of jobs and college stress, as if a new school year was going to make them feel better. I knew the excitement would die down after a week, though, I've seen this all before.

I managed to get through the crowds of people and took a peak at my mini planner that had my locker number and combo on it. I hurried through the halls until I found my locker. I saw my best friend, Cynthia, standing by my locker. "Hey, Talia," Cynthia smiled, and gave me a little hug. "I've barely seen you all summer, I've missed you!"

I gave a little chuckle. "I'm sorry, Cynthia, I've just been so busy with my job," I lied. "You know I missed you too. How was your summer?"

I felt bad because that was a lie. I didn't even have a job. Almost every time Cynthia wanted to hang out, she wanted me to go to a party with her. I never liked parties, and every time I tried to tell her that she just wouldn't listen. I always felt lonely at parties and even lonelier when she was around. She didn't get how I felt. You see, loneliness is like a chip on my shoulder, a chip that never goes away, no matter how much I try to force it. It's funny how when I'm around people I feel lonelier than when I'm actually alone.

"It was okay," Cynthia said. "Who knew getting into college was so hard? I wish I was twelve year old again so I wouldn't have to worry about it."

I was glad I didn't have to relive being a twelve year old for reasons Cynthia seemed unaware of. Cynthia was so oblivious sometimes.

"Same here," I lied. "How did you even find out my locker number?"

"I didn't have to." Cynthia said. She opened up the locker next to mine. "I guess we're locker mates."

"I guess," I tried to smile.

"Hey, what are your classes?" Cynthia asked, pulling out her schedule. "We've been talking here for, like, five minutes and we don't even know what classes we have together."

"One sec," I said, reaching into my bag to pull out my schedule. I held the paper next to hers and we looked to see what we had together.

"We have fourth and fifth period together," she smiled. "And lunch, of course."

"Cool," I said, forcing a smile.

I actually didn't think it was a good idea for me to be in her classes. Whenever she was in one of my classes, all she would do is talk to me or just distract me somehow. All I wanted to do was focus on my grades this year. I wanted to have nice grades for college, which I'd be going to next year.

"I'll see you later," Cynthia said. "I want to see if I have more classes with my other friends. Save me a seat in class, 'Kay?"

"Okay," I said.

Cynthia hurried off after that, ready to find out her "other friends" schedules. Meanwhile, I set all of my stuff in my locker and headed to class. My first four classes went smoothly. I had some homework, but I didn't care. I'd get it done in study hall. When lunchtime came, I went into the cafeteria to find that Cynthia had saved a seat for me, along with some of her friends.

"Hey guys," I said. "What were you all talking about?"

The group was silent. Finally, a boy spoke up. "We were talking about how there's going to be a camping trip for Science this weekend," he said. "You should come; I think you might enjoy it."

"Thanks, but I probably can't," I said. "I might have to work."

I probably couldn't go, but the real reason was because my Grandmother definitely would not let me go on an overnight trip in the woods. She always got worried about me doing things like that, I don't know why. It didn't matter though, because just the thought of camping made me cringe. Sleeping outside with all those bugs and creatures wasn't really my thing.

"Aw, hopefully you can get out of work and join us," he said.

"Yeah, hopefully," I said.

The boy had dark brown eyes and sort of long brown hair. He was cute, I guess, but I'd never seen him before. Maybe he was new.

"Anyways," Cynthia said, changing the subject. "Donna, can we go to the garden and work on our photography project? This is the perfect time to do it."

"Of course," Donna said. They both got up and hurried towards the cafeteria door.

"I'm going to study hall," I said. I grabbed my lunch tray and started to walk away.

"Wait," the boy who was probably new here said. "I'm Damon."

"Talia," I said, and then walked away.

After study hall was over, I went to fifth period, Science. Cynthia had saved me a seat in the back. I went and sat down

"Hey," Cynthia said. "So are you really not going on the camping trip?"

"Probably not," I said.

"Why not," Cynthia asked. "You can't let work hold you back from _everything._ Can you please come?"

"Why do you even care?" I snapped. "You didn't seem to mind back in the cafeteria."

"That's because Donna said she was going then," Cynthia explained. "But now she's not so I need someone to go with."

"So I'm your second choice?" I said.

"Of course not," Cynthia said. "I want you to come because you're my best friend and this is one of the last field trips we'll ever get to take together."

"Alright, maybe," I said. "I'll think about it, and maybe if I really want to go I'll try to get off work."

"Yay," Cynthia squealed and hugged me. "You're the best!"

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 **Thanks for all the kind reviews! :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, I've been pretty busy and almost forgot to finish this, but I'm back now, so don't worry. Thanks for all of your kind reviews, though, and I'll try update sooner next time.**

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I felt bad as I walked home, thinking about the camping trip. I didn't exactly want to go, but at the same time, I really did. Cynthia seemed pretty happy that I agreed to go, I guess, and this _was_ one of the last trips we'd ever get to take together. But then again, the trip was to bug-infested Mako Island.

Another thing that held me back from going was my Grandmother. I already knew that she most likely would not let me go. She never lets me do anything that involves having fun. She's still mad that I skipped going to my therapy to hang out with my friends every Tuesday and Thursday night, and now she's very over-protective about letting me go out too much. I don't understand her.

I finally made it home. I walked inside slowly, as if I were going inside of a Haunted House, and placed my book bag on the hanger. My Grandmother didn't notice that I was walking in, and that made me feel relieved. I began to walk quietly towards the hall when I heard the door shut.

 _Crap,_ I thought. _I always forget how loud that door is._

"Talia," my Grandmother said as she turned her head away from the TV. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Oh, I thought you were sleeping." I giggled nervously.

"No," she said. "So, how was school today? You're finally a senior!"

"I guess now we've got one thing in common." I said.

Grandmother laughed. "Good one," she said.

"Well, I already have tons of homework to do so I'm going to go do that. Bye!" I said and hurried out of the room.

As I started to make my way down the hall, I realized how distant my relationship with my Grandmother was. We were never really that close, but nowadays we always had awkward conversations like that. I don't know why I can't just be honest with her, why I can't just tell her how I've been feeling. I shouldn't be against her like this, but I can't help myself. Everyone leaves me, and my Grandmother is most likely going to be the next to go, due to her old age, and maybe if I keep my distance it won't hurt as badly this time.

"Wait," Grandmother said. "I need to talk to you. Come sit down."

I turned around and walked slowly over to the couch and sat down. I tried to relax as I wondered what she was going to say.

"I got an email this afternoon from your Science teacher," Grandmother said.

I looked down at my hands. I really hope this isn't going where I think its going.

"It was about a camping trip to Mako Island this weekend," Grandmother continued. "Why didn't you tell me? The permission slip is due tomorrow."

"Oops!" I gasped sarcastically. "I must have forgotten!

Grandmother ignored me. "Were you just going to put it off until later, or were you just planning on getting out of it?"

I continued to look down at my hands and waited about a minute until I answered. "You would've said no," I practically whispered. "You _always_ say no."

"I only tell you that you can't do things for a good reason," Grandmother said. "You and I both know what happened last year when you started skipping therapy. I'm just worried about you."

"I can handle myself," I said, on the verge of yelling at her.

"Can you?" Grandmother yelled. "You always make such _awful_ decisions, and it's such a shame because you're such a nice and sweet girl."

"If I always make such _awful_ decisions, then why do you even want me to go on this trip?" I screamed back.

"Listen, let's not yell, okay?" Grandmother said with a much lighter tone than before. "I haven't been letting you do these types of things for about a year now, and I've always felt bad about it. I've been doing it for a good reason though, and you know it. I want to start trusting you again, I don't want to fight. Come on, you'll have a good experience."

"So, you're actually letting me do something?" I started to smile.

Grandmother smirked. "Maybe, only if you promise that nothing bad will happen."

"I won't, I promise!" I quickly hugged her. "Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome!" Grandmother said.

I got up and hurried over to my room. I couldn't believe she was finally starting to trust me again.

I secretly hoped that I would keep my promise to Grandmother, when I said that nothing bad would happen. I wanted everything to be perfect. "But that's not possible," I whispered to myself. "Perfection doesn't exist."

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 **What will happen to Talia this weekend on the camping trip? What happened to Talia last year when she skipped therapy that made her Grandmother stop trusting her? Find out in the next chapter (which is going to be split into two parts).**


	4. Chapter 3

**So, I just realized that the last chapter was pretty bad with the grammar. I'd like to apologize to everyone for that. I don't remember if I had edited it or not since it's been a while, and I already have it erased off of my document manager so I'm not sure how to edit it now. Once again, sorry about that, and I'll fix it up as soon as I can.**

 **Anyways, enjoy this chapter (or part of a chapter)!**

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Everything was in my suitcase. I had to stop myself from packing a few days before, and waited until Friday night to get everything done to make time pass by until we go.

Suddenly, there was a knock at my door. It was probably my Grandma. "Come in," I yelled out.

Grandma opened the door and stood by my doorframe. "Are you ready for the trip?" she asked. "The bus is coming in ten minutes."

"Yep, I'm ready," I said, pointing to my little suitcase.

"Are you sure you have everything?" Grandma asked.

"I made a list," I smiled. "I know I have everything."

"Great," Grandma said. She walked over to me and gave me a tiny kiss on the cheek. "Have fun, stay out of trouble."

"I will, I will," I smirked.

"Well, you won't want to miss your bus," Grandma said. "Go on."

I got up and hurried out of my bedroom, barely holding onto my suitcase. I walked outside to find that the bus was just pulling up by the bus stop at my house. A few people that went to my school were already there, waiting for the bus doors to open. I politely waited for them all to get on first and then I got on as well.

The bus was very full already. My whole class was already on. I was used to it, though. The school usually stopped at my street last, so it was usually a bit hard for me to find a seat.

I saw Cynthia, and immediately walked towards her. "Hey, Cynthia," I waved.

Cynthia was sitting next to Donna and Wendy. She gave me a confused look, and I gave her one back. "I- I thought you would save a seat for me," I muttered.

"I would have, but they really wanted to sit next to me," she laughed. "Sorry."

I turned away, and looked to see if there was another seat open. I couldn't find anything.

"Hey, Talia," a voice said.

I looked over to where the voice came from. It was Damon. He wasn't sitting next to anyone. I hurried towards him and sat down before the teacher yelled at me. "Hi, Damon," I said. "Sitting alone?"

"Not anymore," he smirked. "You would have been sitting alone if you came early too. Cynthia doesn't play nice."

I didn't reply. I sort of agreed, but I didn't want him to know that. Instead, I just stared ahead, waiting for a distraction.

We sat in awkward silence for the whole ride until we finally got to the docks. I hurried out of the bus so Damon wouldn't walk with me. Each of us had to get a partner to ride a canoe with. I slowly faced Damon, but decided against it and shifted my head towards Cynthia, hoping she wouldn't be working with Donna or Wendy this time.

"She isn't going to choose you," Damon whispered in my ear from behind, surprising me.

"Unfortunately, I know," I said firmly, turning towards him. "I guess we'll have to work together."

"Oh, so I'm your second choice?" He smiled and lightly punched me on the arm. "Don't be a Cynthia."

I softly smiled at him and we got into a canoe together. He told me he had a good shortcut to take to get to Mako faster, so I went along with it and we took his shortcut.

The ride was mostly silent. We had minimal talk every twenty minutes about the random things that came to our minds, but that was it. When it started to become cold and dark out, he let me wear his coat to stay warm.

Eventually, I started to get really tired of paddling. I put my paddle on the boat. "I feel like we're going nowhere."

"I'm so sorry, Talia," Damon said, taking his paddle out of the water, too. "I thought this was the way."

"We're lost?!" I yelled. "We should have just gone with the rest instead of trying a different way! We're going to get in so much trouble!"

"Relax," Damon said. "We'll be fine."

"You think we can find the island by morning?" I asked.

"Not a chance," Damon said. "I can't see a thing. I guess we'll have to spend the night out here."

"Fine," I said. "Here's your coat."

I took off his coat and tried to hand it to him, but he shook his head. "Keep it for tonight. I'd rather you be warm than me."

"Oh, okay," I looked away and smiled a bit at the sky.

We both got our sleeping bags out of our suitcases and tried to sleep on the canoe. It was very uncomfortable, but it was all we could do.

"This is so cool," Damon said, looking at the sky. "I've never slept on a boat before."

"Well, I'm glad you like it, I guess," I sighed.

"Don't be sad," Damon said. "We'll be back before you know it."

"Why are you so positive about this?" I asked, turning towards him.

"I don't know," Damon said, turning towards me. "This town is so boring; I guess this is the first adventure I've had since I've moved here. Plus, I get to go through this with the coolest girl in town."

"I'm not that great," I rolled my eyes, and began to look through my bags for my pills. I got them out and swallowed two of them and then put it back in my bag.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked, lifting his head up.

"I have to take them every night I'm here," I said, trying to lie back down.

"I don't mean to sound pushy, but why?" Damon asked.

"It's fine, I just hate the ocean," I said, trying to lie back down. "My therapist had told me to take them whenever I feel stressed."

"I didn't mean to make you feel stressed," Damon said, lightly grabbing my hand. "I'm so sorry."

"No, it's not you," I said, looking directly into his eyes. "My Mom went out one night with her friends, and then a few days later she was found dead on the shore. I just-"

I started to shake a little bit, so I stopped talking. "Its okay, it's okay," Damon put his arm around me, and I rested my head on his shoulder.

All of a sudden, I had an urge to lift my head. I had a feeling something was going on, but I had no idea what. I caught a glimpse of the full moon's reflection in the water, and I just had this tingly feeling inside me. I started to shake violently.

"What's going on?" Damon asked.

"I have no idea," I said. "I feel like something's happening."

"Calm down, okay?" Damon patted me on the back. "Nothing bad is going to happen. I'm right here."

The water around the boat started to bubble. "Do you see this?" I yelled.

"Yeah," Damon said.

A water tentacle started to rise up beside the boat, and it seemed to just stare at us for a second. "What is that thing?!" I screamed.

"No idea," Damon yelled.

I looked over to Damon. He looked really panicked. I grabbed his hand and looked at him directly in the eyes. "Don't be scared. You'll be okay; I'll make sure of that."

"Now look who's the positive one," Damon yelled, holding my hand back, really tightly.

The tentacle flew over to me, and grabbed me. It felt like I was trapped in a blanket of water. I started screaming.

"Talia," Damon yelled.

Before I could respond, the tentacle pulled me underwater, and it felt like it was taking me somewhere.

And that's all I could remember while I was conscious.

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 **It took me a while to get this chapter done, but I finally made it! I've been working out some problems so I haven't had time to write in a while. So yeah, I hope you liked it!**

 **By the way, Talia's Mom isn't a character from H2O or Mako Mermaids. The entire story is made up of my own characters. Sorry for the confusion!**


	5. Chapter 4

**I've decided that I'll just** ** _try_** **to update every two weeks so that my anxiety won't constantly kill me inside.**

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I woke up facedown with sand all over me. I rolled over and wiped the sand off of myself. Moving felt painful, and all I wanted to do right now was go back home. I got up slowly and realized that I wasn't at campgrounds. There was a cave wall in front of me. I turned around and saw a mini pool of water - with Damon lying beside it.

 _What happened last night?_

The last thing I remembered was being on the boat with Damon, and how we had agreed to sleep on the canoe until the sun came up and we could see clearly. Then I had told him about my past, and then... _Oh no._

I quickly ran over to him and felt his hand. He still had a pulse. His entire body was cold and shaking terribly. "Damon?" I yelled. "Damon!"

His eyes slowly opened. "Huh?" he muttered.

He sat up and looked at me for a second, and then he hugged me. "I didn't think you were still alive," he said.

"What happened last night?" I asked, as he released his hug.

"It was so weird," Damon said. "This water thing came to the canoe and took you, and then a few minutes later another one took me here. I saw you being held by the water thing and you were unconscious. Then the pool started bubbling and it put you underwater, and I thought it was trying to drown you. The other water thing started to shoot water bullets at me, and then suddenly everything just stopped. The pool stopped bubbling and the water things dropped. I quickly jumped in the pool to come get you. You were at the bottom, and I was so scared that you were dead. I felt your pulse and it wasn't beating."

Damon hugged me again, and this time I hugged him back. "I'm here," I said. "But that is really weird. I wonder what happened."

"Anyways," Damon said, releasing me, obviously trying not to think about it anymore. "We need to find a way out of here."

"We could just swim," I looked at him nervously.

"Only if you're okay with it," Damon gave a soft smile.

It felt awkward talking to Damon now, ever since I opened up to him last night, and then all the crazy stuff happened. He's the first person I've ever told, other than my therapist and Grandma, even a little bit about my past to. He didn't overreact, which was good, but I didn't want him to feel protective of me either. I didn't need anyone.

"You don't have to do this, you know?" I said.

"What?" he asked.

"Protect me," I said. "I'm perfectly fine on my own."

"Really?" he asked. "Last night it pretty much spoke for itself."

He winked at me. I could tell he was being playful, and I grew to like this side of him more than the protective one. He was back.

"I guess we'll just swim, then," Damon stepped back, and then ran and jumped into the mini pool.

While he was under, I looked around the cave. It was definitely quite mysterious, not just because of last night. I felt like I had been here before, but I knew I hadn't. Still, I somehow felt comfortable here, and had a feeling that this was the first time I've been here, but far from the last.

I tried to shake that off. I never wanted to come here again. It was creepy... _right?_

I saw Damon resurface. "What are you still doing up there?" he asked. "Come on!"

I took my shoes off and jumped in. He held my hand and led me out of the pool.

While I was underwater, I started to feel a tingle. My body started to shake. Damon let go of my hand and stared at me. Then he looked up and grabbed my hand and pulled me to the surface. "What's going on?" I asked.

Then suddenly my whole body turned to water for a few seconds, and when it changed back, I had a fish tail.

I screamed. Damon jumped back. "No, no, no," he muttered. "This can't be happening."

"What?" I yelled. "What can't be happening?"

"I'll tell you later," Damon said, looking around. "You'll just have to trust me on this. Follow me."

It wasn't like there was much other ways I could go, so I followed him, although at this point I wasn't sure if I could trust him anymore.

It was really hard to swim with the tail. I tried to pump it, but it was just making me go slower. "How... do you... work this thing..?" I said, struggling to catch up to him.

He turned back and swam towards me. "I'm sorry," he said. "I forgot how hard it is." He held out his hand and led me to shore.

When I got to the sand, I rested my head on my arm. It took a lot of energy to move the tail, and it was really heavy. Damon rested for a minute too, and then he got up and made a fire.

"Will this thing ever go away?" I asked, shaking at the thought of being stuck like this forever.

"Yeah, you just have to get out of the water first," he smirked.

"So, when I'm dry it goes away?" I asked. "And when I get wet it comes back?"

"Exactly," he said.

"Help me?" I asked, struggling to get up on the sand with my arms.

"Of course," he said, and hurried over to me.

When I got up onto shore, Damon created a fire. It heated me up and I fully dried off, so my tail went away.

We sat next to each other on a wooden log. We were in complete silence for a while until I decided to say something. "How do you know everything about being a mermaid?" I asked.

"My ex-girlfriend was one," Damon said.

I wasn't sure whether to believe him, but the way he looked to ground out of sadness made me think again.

"Ex-girlfriend...?" I blurted. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that out loud..."

Damon gave me a soft smile and then we looked at each other for a second. He was opening up to me, just like I had opened up to him.

Damon looked away and scratched his head. "Anyways," he said.

"What was she like?" I asked.

"She... she was amazing," he said. "I loved her so much."

"If you don't mind me asking," I said, looking directly at him. "What happened to her?"

I knew that question was a little too personal right as I asked it, and immediately regretted saying anything. "She doesn't want anything to do with me anymore," he said.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I shouldn't have said anything."

"It's okay, I understand," he said. "I asked you, too."

He was referring to when he asked me about my mom last night. I guess he had felt guilty about that as well.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. "I found them!" a familiar voice yelled.

Damon and I stood up. It was Cynthia and Wendy. I watched their facial expressions as they came out of the woods. Wendy looked shocked, but relieved at the same time. Cynthia looked hurt and shocked.

"Talia, can we talk for a few minutes?" Cynthia said. Then she glared at Damon. "Alone."

I gave Damon a look, and I knew he could tell that I didn't want to go. He felt like the first real friend that I've had for a long time. It felt like Cynthia was the, but at the same time, she just _wasn't._

Cynthia and I walked along the shore, and I made sure to not get wet while we talked. "So," Cynthia started. "Last night you were supposed to be my tent buddy, but you didn't even show."

"No, I wasn't," I said. "When did we ever agree to this?"

We stopped walking. "You _promised_!" Cynthia yelled.

"Just like you _promised_ me that we would sit next to each other on the bus?" I yelled. "Or that you would sit next to me at lunch every single day? Or sit next to each other in classes?"

At this point, I started to tear up. But I tried to hold it back to stay strong.

"Maybe I do that because I feel like you don't care about me!" Cynthia yelled. "You only care about yourself!"

"If I didn't care about you, then we wouldn't be friends!" I said.

"Maybe we shouldn't be!" Cynthia yelled. "I know deep down all you want to do is ditch me for Damon, who you only met a few days ago!"

"Yet, he likes me more than you ever will!" I screamed.

"Whatever, he'll leave you anyways," Cynthia remarked. "He never sticks around for long. When you end up having no one, don't come crawling back to me."

"How would you know?" I asked.

"How wouldn't I know?" Cynthia asked. "I used to date him."

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 **Woo! Cliffhanger! Anyways, I'm really happy that I actually got this done on time. Plus, my chapters seem to be getting longer so I guess I'm improving? Tell me what you think!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Thank you guys for the favorites/follows and the kind review :)**

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"You did?" I asked, trying to sound casual, but I came off as quite nervous.

 _Could Cynthia possibly be the mermaid that Damon had dated?_

No... it couldn't be possible. Cynthia's touching water right now, and she doesn't have a tail. Also, why would Damon go for Cynthia? He clearly hates her.

"You're jealous, huh?" Cynthia smirked. "It's okay, I would be too."

I felt like I was just stabbed in the back. It wasn't jealously, no, I was just confused. We had been best friends for years, and she never seemed like she was hiding something. I looked at Cynthia again, and my knees felt weak and I dropped to the ground.

"I knew it," she smiled.

This couldn't be happening. What if she finds out about me being a mermaid? She'll expose me for sure. Or, what if she's already figured it out? Am I in danger?

Damon must have seen that I was panicking and ran over to me. He grabbed my hand. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I looked directly into his eyes. " _Was it her?_ "

xx

I opened my eyes and only saw darkness. I looked around and realized that I was inside one of the tents. I lifted my head but it felt different.

"What's going on?" I asked no one in particular.

I took the blanket off and unzipped the tent. I got up and stood up outside, noticing that it was nighttime. I liked nighttime.

No one was around, though. They all must have been sleeping.

I walked slowly past the tents of my sleeping classmates. I liked how peaceful it was while they were sleeping. It's as if I was the only person in the world, and I liked it. I began to walk through the woods.

After a few minutes, I came across a mini waterfall. It sounded so nice. I climbed on top of the rock and just sat there. The water was flowing down under my legs. It looked relaxing, so I touched it. Then I remembered...

I transformed into a mermaid. The weight of my tail was so heavy that I fell off the rock and into the stream. It's as if all the peace I had felt before was crushed.

Everything started coming back to me. The mermaid transformation... Damon... Cynthia... Damon and Cynthia...

I felt like I had just hit myself with a bus. I couldn't feel good for one second.

"Talia?" someone yelled, interrupting my thoughts. "Talia!"

"Damon?" I yelled back.

Damon ran towards the waterfall and looked down to see me as a mermaid. "What are you doing?" he asked.

I looked back at my tail and realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea why I even came here. I had no idea why I had made myself transform in the first place. "I... I don't know," I stammered.

"It's okay, it's okay," Damon said, and then reached out his hand. "Take my hand. I'll pull you out of here and then you can get dry."

I put my arm out and almost took his hand, but decided against it and put my arm back down. "How do I know I can trust you?" I asked.

"What are you talking about?" he put his hand back.

"I've asked you this once and I'm not going to say it again," I said. " _Was it her?_ "

xx

Damon took me back to the moon pool after I had dried off. On the way, he told me about how I had fainted at the beach and then he took me back to the tent. Apparently, I had slept for the rest of the day. Sweet.

I looked at the supernatural pool. It felt like I belonged there. Like, I was water too.

"Ahh, the place where I transformed," I sighed. "So many memories."

"Yeah, it was the worst day of my life," Damon smirked.

"It was today, dummy," I rolled my eyes and smiled. Then I started thinking about the whole "situation."

"You still didn't answer my question, though," I said, trying to avoid looking at him. "Was it her or not?"

"Not," he said.

"If she wasn't, then why did you take all day to answer that?" I asked suspiciously.

"Well, you kind of did faint after you asked it the first time," he laughed.

"Yeah, true," I said, blushing. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"Hey, no worries," Damon walked towards me and looked down at me.

"Seriously, I didn't mean to," I said and looked him in his eyes. "When my mind finds a situation it can't control, it does anything it can to, like, run away from it."

He took my hand. "Do you feel like running now?" he asked.

"Strangely, no," I smiled.

He leaned in and gave me a soft kiss on the cheek. It was almost disappointing.

"I want to wait until the perfect time," he said. "For now, the cheek is the best you'll get."

I smirked. "Okay, then the cheek is the best you'll get from me, too," I said and kissed him on the cheek.

"Sounds like a deal," he said.

It became awkward for a second. "I guess I'm going to go to sleep now," I said.

"In here?" Damon joked.

"No," I laughed. "In my tent, of course."

"Okay, well, goodnight then," he said.

"Goodnight," I said, and kissed him on the cheek again. Then I jumped in the water before I could see his reaction, but I felt like he was smirking at me from behind.

I felt like we were middle schoolers. Why does he want to wait for the perfect time? Just then was a great time, and it could have been really special. I've never kissed anyone before, but I'm pretty sure moments like those are good times to do it. I couldn't help but be disappointed about it, but at least we were getting somewhere.

I also felt like he was lying about the Cynthia situation. Then again, I don't really have any proof of this, so all I can do is lay low for now.

I will find my proof someday, though. And that day will hopefully be very soon.


	7. Chapter 6

**sorry for the long wait. writing really hasn't been on my mind lately due to my depression. i can't keep up with a schedule because if i do, my chapters will be forced and i want them to be as good as i can do. i'm working on posting the next chapter shortly after this, because i feel bad that i made you guys wait for so long, but after that i just don't know. so i'm just going to post whenever i feel like, whether that be in two weeks or two months. hope you guys understand.**

* * *

"So, how was it?" my Grandma asked.

 _Oh, Grandma, it was great, except for the fact that I'm now a fish, my best friend hates me now, and I think I'm falling for the bad boy._

It was a totally normal camping trip, obviously. It was definitely not the weirdest experience of my life.

"I had so much fun," I lied. "We learned how to do a lot of wilderness things. It was great."

"Well, I'm glad you're happy," Grandma smiled.

"Yeah, I'm so happy..." I said. "Well, I think I'm going to go to bed. It's been a long day, you know, doing the last of the camping stuff, packing up, going on the boat... I'm just tired."

"Okay, get some rest," Grandma said. "Love you."

"Love you too," I said.

I went to grab a glass of water, and I made sure that the water drops didn't touch my fingertips. _Oh, what a life I'm having._

After I got into my room, I put my glass of water on the table, and then turned on some music. I got into bed, and everything just felt different.

Sure, I was a mermaid, but I was still the same person, right?

It was bittersweet. I would have to be very careful around water for now on. I obviously didn't want people finding out. But I also felt a little good about this whole thing...

For some reason, I just suddenly felt a little closer to _her_ , that's all.

xx

"Hey, Talia," Cynthia greeted, trying to make her voice sound normal but it ended up coming off very bitter, as I sat down in Science. "So, the trip was fun, right?"

We were in Science again. We had seats assigned next to each other, because on the first day of school, she actually didn't hate me. So, now we're stuck together.

It was stupid that she hated me now, over this one little thing. I mean, I could hang out with whoever I wanted to. She ditched me for other people all the time, but I would still be her friend, and still showed my loyalty to her all the time. But of course, when I would ditch her, I'd become irredeemable.

So what if Cynthia and Damon had dated in the past? It's not like Cynthia had ever told me that. Was she even telling the truth? I mean, we've been best friends for years, and I don't recall that ever happening.

I didn't know about it, end of story. I don't need to make excuses.

"So, everyone," the teacher started to speak to all of us. "We had a very nice trip this year. A lot of you seemed to have gotten the hang of living outdoors. Others, not really so much, but that's okay!"

Some kids in the class snorted, getting the hint as to who she was referring to. I'm not really in the whole "in-crowd" thing, so I had no idea what was going on. I just smiled and played along.

I heard the door open, and I knew whoever it was about to get it. Seriously, it's been five minutes. Who comes to class five minutes...?

"Damon!" the teacher half-yelled, interrupting my thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Damon muttered, looking a little shaken up. He quickly handed her a pass and charged to his seat.

Everyone ignored him after that, but not me. I stared at him as the teacher continued talking about the trip. He glanced at me too for a second, but then looked back at the teacher.

 _What was wrong with him?_

xx

As I was walking home after school, Damon caught up with me.

"Talia!" he yelled from behind.

I turned around, and waited for him to catch up. He ran up to me, panting.

"Talia..." Damon said, out of breath. "We need to talk, okay?"

I laughed.

Damon took my hand and led me to a near beach. It was so weird, looking out at the water, knowing that I was a part of all of that. I tried to take my mind off of that, and focused on Damon.

"Talia," Damon started. "I forgot to tell you something."

I was a little worried now. Was this going to be bad?

"What?" I asked.

"You have powers."

"Yeah, I guess the whole mermaid thing is kind of a superpower," I joked.

"No, no, you can do other things too," Damon stated. He took my hand and made me do some weird flinging motion towards the water.

I quickly pulled my hand away. "Are you on drugs?" I asked.

"No, I'm just trying to help," Damon said. "I know this stuff a lot more than you do."

I mocked. "I don't care about having powers! The only thing that I want to do right now is get rid of this whole thing! I never wanted to freaking have powers in the first place!"

"We can get rid of this," Damon said. "It'll just take about another fifty years or so. . . then I promise you'll be all back to normal."

I screamed. "I have to avoid water like this for fifty more years?!"

People were staring now, but I didn't care. They didn't know what was really going on.

"Well. . ." Damon looked around, trying to think of an excuse. Maybe a little bit less."

I got frustrated, and stormed off. What the hell did I get myself into?!


	8. Chapter 7

Fifty years. 18250 days. That is how long I was stuck like this.

Damon speedwalked to catch up to me. "Well, you could always just die," he said jokingly.

"Sounds like a nice option," I said, turning around to face him and staring off.

"Oh, no, listen," Damon said, putting his hands on my shoulders. "It's not that hard and you'll get used to it."

"I can't even swim, and after what happened to my mom, I don't want to," I told him. "God, what do you think she'd think about all this? I mean... about me being a mermaid? Would she hate me?"

Damon took my wrist and led me over to a bench. My breathing quickened as I realized that I had said that stuff out loud to him.

"I didn't know your mom," he said finally. "But what I do know is that... just because she drowned doesn't mean that she wants you to live in fear for the rest of your life. Do you really think she'd care if you liked to swim? She's your mother, she only wants the best for you."

I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to erase those bad thoughts from my mind. I pulled Damon in for a hug.

"Thank you for being my friend, Damon," I said.

"Hey, no problem," he said, holding me tightly.

I remembered that he had come to talk to me about my powers. I knew I shouldn't have cared, but I was a little curious. What were my powers exactly? I decided not to ask him though because of my stupid pride.

"Do you want to learn how to swim?" he asked me, letting go of me and looking me in the eyes.

"I... guess so," I said. "It can't hurt, right?"

Damon led me to a secluded part of our local beach. Apparently, he said it was a great spot for fishing from what his friends had told him. I didn't know much about that stuff.

"Do you want to go in first?" he asked.

"I'm kind of nervous," I said. "I don't want to fall. How do I stop myself from falling on my face?"

"You just have to run in, okay?" Damon said.

I stared out towards the water. I definitely wasn't ready for this, but I had to face my fears eventually. I wasn't a coward. The voices in my head told me to run and so I did as far as I could until I was in a deep part of the water and my body started to ache. I transformed into a mermaid.

Damon smiled and ran in after me. He showed me the basics first, like holding my breath underwater, but somehow I just didn't need to. It was like I could breathe in it or something, like a fish.

Swimming, though, ended up being a lot easier than I thought it would be. Being a mermaid, believe it or not, actually made the swimming process a lot simpler. It became easier to just glide through the water. I almost forgot that I didn't know how to swim only an hour ago. After a while, Damon and I swam to shore.

"Did you have fun?" he asked me. "I really do think that you're a natural. You were definitely meant to become a mermaid."

I punched him playfully on the shoulder. "Definitely not," I said, looking down and almost laughing. "But I do think I'm getting the hang of this, and it's all because of you."

Damon smiled, and then his smile faded and his eyes widened as if he had forgotten to tell me something. "Talia, I..." he started, scratching his head. "You're in danger... make sure to-"

"Damon? Talia?" a female voice called from afar. We both turned to see Cynthia and Wendy in their bikinis, with beach towels hanging over their shoulders and sunglasses above their eyes as if to serve as a headband.

"I thought you said that this place was _private_ ," I whispered to Damon.

He just shrugged. "I thought it was."

"What a downgrade," Wendy remarked.

"More like an upgrade," Damon said back. My cheeks became hot and my eyes widened.

 _Crap! I'm still a mermaid!_ I realized that I had to swim away before Cynthia and Wendy noticed anything. I guess that was the good thing about learning to swim, although if I had just told Damon no then I guess this never would have happened in the first place.

I gave Damon a look and he knew exactly what I meant. He looked panicked though, as if he didn't know what to do. In the spur of the moment, I leaned into him and planted a kiss on his lips. Shocked at first, he didn't respond, but after a second he pulled me closer and cupped my cheek.

Cynthia and Wendy began laughing, and I opened my eyes during the kiss to see that they weren't looking at us anymore and having a conversation now. I took my chance to quickly kiss Damon on the cheek and quickly swim off before they noticed.

While underwater, Damon looked down at me, surprised, but he was still happy and so was I.

* * *

The next day at school, I was in my science class when I discovered what I was really capable of as a mermaid and it was only by complete accident. The teacher had given us a lab assignment, which was to be completed in an hour with or without only one partner.

I obviously chose Damon as my partner, and if it weren't for him then I wouldn't have worked with anyone at all. I liked having a friend that chose me first too, it was a nice change.

I let him do all the liquid work while I did all the paper work so I wouldn't get wet.

"I think it's heterogenous," I said, writing down the answer of a question.

"Yeah," Damon agreed.

"Damon and Talia," Mrs. Winterberry sung as she walked up to our table. She eyed our project for a minute, looking a little confused. "Hmm... it's looking okay. You should pay attention to some more details though, like Cynthia and Donna's project. Looking at these ingredients, it will only bubble a little at this point."

Mrs. Winterberry walked away while I eyed Cynthia and Donna's project, balling my fist. I was sick of constantly being compared to Cynthia, not only from her, but from other people. I was my own person.

Cynthia's experiment began to bubble and then it exploded. I widened my eyes and looked over to Damon. Damon quickly took my hand. "You're doing this, Talia," he said. "Stop that."

"What?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"

Damon slyly walked over to my ear. "Mermaid powers," he whispered.

I nodded as I realized that Damon was going to tell me about my powers yesterday but I wasn't in the mood. I guess I should've been because I had no idea that this would happen.

Meanwhile, Cynthia was close to tears as her experiment had now been ruined. I didn't want to feel happy, but... I did. It was awful to feel the satisfaction that I did but after years of her ignoring my problems for her own, I wanted to smile.

After class, I went to my locker to put my books away when Cynthia came up to me by herself.

"I know you don't think of me as your friend anymore," was all she said. We stood there staring at each other for a second, neither of us knowing what else to say. "I just wanted to say that I thought of you as a friend."

"Okay," I replied. "So that explains why you ditched me on the bus during the camping trip despite you promising me that you would sit next to me? There's more that I can think of, but you do this all the time, Cynthia. I'm sick of having to keep the false hope that things will ever get better. Why don't you and I just go our separate ways?"

"But we've been best friends since we were in middle school, Talia!" Cynthia pleaded.

"Things change," I shrugged, not knowing what the purpose of her being here even was. I've never felt so confident before though, and I was loving every second of it.

"You mean you and Damon?" Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Listen, I don't think he's who he says he is. The reason that him and I broke up was because I couldn't trust-"

"Cynthia," Wendy said. "Are you done talking to her yet? I thought we were going to go to get a coffee."

"One second," Cynthia told Wendy. "Come to my party on Saturday, please. You won't regret it."

* * *

 **it's been soooo long since i've last updated and i'm so sorry! i just recently have been rereading this story and honestly i think it is one of my best stories so i will keep updating it! hope y'all enjoyed!**


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